Rapid Transit in the Halifax area

[halifaxboyns]

Before I repost the concept I have been tinkering with, I wanted to come back and talk about the idea of LRT/rail in the road when part of street network. Since I work for the City of Calgary, I have to walk to work each day crossing 7 Avenue at the location of the new City Hall Transit station, so I see what goes on all the time.

My only concern when a streetcar/lrt is put into street traffic is this (and I should preface this by saying I'm huge fan of streetcars): With Calgary's current setup for the LRT, all it takes is one person to hold the doors on a train to completely foul up the entire street network for the trains. I realize these are rare, but they are happening more than you might think. For instance, last week on Thursday both on my way into work and on my way home the LRT cars were stacked up for blocks because of issues with people holding trains at City Hall. When I say for blocks - all the way to the 4 Avenue station (as far as I could see), a train in each block they could be in.

Putting the system underground wouldn't stop these sorts of delays, but the traffic lights wouldn't add to the problem of resolving the congestion. The trains lose time because they can't make a light and then have to wait - a problem that wouldn't occur if a system was underground.

Now after saying this, I realize that this really puts a damper into my streetcar idea. But I think that can be overcome by ensuring that at strategic points (where the road right-of-way is wide enough) the streetcar has a dedicated area for movement and that at major intersections, transit priority signals always give the streetcar priority.

While I appreciate we want to be smart with spending money (and I'm no fan of spending billions of $ just because we can), my vision and goal would be to see a quality reliable service built. I don't know if that's what you would get with extending regional rail down Hollis/Lower Water or putting a Calgary style LRT downtown in a street. But that's just my two cents...

That said, I don't think you can avoid it with urban streetcars, but my 'solution' above, should help with the issue of getting through traffic.